Mind, Body, and Spirit
by pullingbeckettspigtails
Summary: After an exhausting day at work, Rick knows the best way to help Kate unwind.


**Summary: After an exhausting day at work, Rick knows the best way to help Kate unwind.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Castle lifted his gaze from his iPad as he heard a key jingling in the door lock, offering a gentle smile as his wife walked in the entryway, immediately kicking off her shoes and borderline throwing her bag down to the floor.

"Hey," He welcomed, placing his device down onto the coffee table, "How are you?"

Kate shuffled over, one hand rubbing the side of her head, and flopped down onto the couch next to Rick, burying her face in his neck and huffing.

He chuckled at her infantile whining, "That bad, huh?" Lifting his arm that was trapped between their two bodies, he smoothed his hand over her hair which was now tied in a low ponytail at the nape of her neck as opposed to how it was freely flowing earlier in the day.

Kate lifted her head slightly, still leaning her chin on his shoulder as she spoke up, "Sorry for snapping at you at the precinct." She apologised, with a dejected tone.

"It's fine, honey. I understand." He replied instantaneously, finishing his sentence with a light kiss to her forehead.

She shook her head, "You were thoughtful enough to bring me Thai from my favourite take-out place, which is a thirty minute drive away, and I just got moody because you forgot the cucumber relish."

Rick ran his fingers over her sides, "There's a munchkin growing inside of you, you definitely don't have to be rational the whole time."

She chuckled at that, bringing her hand up to stroke his cheek, "You're the best husband ever, you know that?"

He turned his head to press a kiss to the inside of her palm, "Yes, but feel free to continue telling me so." His eyebrows wiggled as she slapped his chest jokingly.

The two stayed in silence for a while before Kate sighed loudly, dropping her shoulders, "I should probably take a shower." She said, though her body didn't move an inch.

"Okay," Rick replied, "Want me to make you some tea for you to drink before bed?"

Kate smiled at her husband's thoughtfulness, "That'd be great, babe. Ginger and mint, if we have any left?"

His eyebrows furrowed, "He making you nauseous?" He asked as one of his hands meandered down to her stomach, placing a warm palm over her shirt.

"Little bit, but it could've just been the food, I don't know." She shrugged in response.

"Okay then, ginger and mint it is. And if we don't have any, chamomile?"

"Please." Kate replied, pressing a quick kiss to Rick's lips in gratitude. Shortly after she rose up from the couch - her back clicking in the process - and wandered over to the office as Rick began to boil the water.

* * *

Less than ten minutes later, Kate emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a lilac towel. Rick glanced up from the book he was reading on the bed as he heard her feet tapping against the floor.

"That was quick." He commented, shifting over on the mattress to allow room for his partner.

"My back and shoulders are sore, I couldn't even lift my arms up for long enough to wash my hair," She responded, then let out a scoff, "I only managed to shave half of one leg before I had to stop."

Castle sat up from his semi-reclined position, "Want me to get in with you so I can help?" Normally, Kate would assume that he had ulterior motives for wanting to share a shower, but now nothing but concern was shown on his face.

"No, it's okay," She replied, "I just want to get to sleep."

Though as she leant down to pull back the bed covers, Rick noticed her face scrunch in discomfort, and promptly swung his legs off the bed, fumbling to the bathroom, Kate whipping her head round to follow his retreating figure. He returned with a grin, his wife quizzically lifting an eyebrow.

"Lay on the bed," He requested, holding his hands behind his back, "I know something that might help."

Wordlessly, she did as she was instructed, turning onto her right side and burying her face into her soft pillow.

Though her eyes were closed, she knew Castle was moving around her, then finally the bed dipped slightly as he sat next to her.

"Since you insisted that getting a professional prenatal massage was too expensive, I decided to do what I do best." He smiled, "Research."

Kate hummed in response, "When did you do this?"

"A couple of days ago," He replied, as Kate heard the cap of a bottle open. She surmised that it must be new since she didn't recognise the smell, the scents of lavender and orange pleasantly filling the room.

Rick gently peeled the towel from her naked body and placed it at the end of the bed, then moved a pillow between her knees, knowing that this position would be more comfortable for her.

"Tell me if this hurts in any way, or you want me to stop, okay?"

She chuckled quietly, "You're telling me I need a safe word for a massage?" He pinched her ass cheek teasingly, causing her to squeal as she giggled, "Fine, my safe word is apples."

He let out a small huff of laughter, "Good choice, dear."

Rick lowered his hands to the nape of Kate's neck, brushing her wispy curls to the side, lightly brushing his fingertips against the pale skin, smiling to himself as he felt her relax, almost sinking in to the mattress. He slid his fingers down, seeping over her shoulders, applying light pressure, repeating this as Kate began to take heavier breaths as she loosened up.

He then moved to her shoulder blades, skimming against the protruding bones, then continuing to create circular motions around them, almost kneading, which definitely felt appropriate as Kate stretched out underneath him, reminding him of a delicate, feminine feline.

His hands continued their trek downwards, both palms sliding down each side of her back, carefully avoiding the spine as he remembered the information he'd learnt from his online research. He hooked one hand around her hip and glided the other upwards, Kate letting out a sigh at the stretching sensation. Feeling happy with her response, he kept doing this for a few minutes, smiling to himself each time as his partner let out little moans, letting him know how appreciative she was.

He clenched his fists as he moved to her lower back, pressing harder as he attempted to work out the knots, knowing that this area was particularly problematic for Kate, even before the pregnancy. He prided himself in the fact that he could almost feel the muscles loosening beneath his touch, concentrating on that area.

Once he felt he'd spent sufficient time there, he slowly brought his palms to the lifted curve of her ass, almost expecting Kate to tense up at the contact, but she remained motionless.

"You okay?" Castle wondered, wanting to make sure he was helping Kate and not hindering her.

She only let out an affirmative, melodious hum, causing him to smile as he bent down to press a gentle kiss to her spine then proceeded with the task at hand.

He leaned over to his bed-side table and grasped the white bottle of moisturiser cream that he saw Kate use nightly in the past five months in order to prevent the creation of stretch marks. Though he'd repeatedly told her that it wasn't a point of concern and that she'd be beautiful no matter what, he respected her wishes.

Once he opened up the container, the smell of cocoa butter mixed into the air, Rick spreading some of the lotion in his hands and rubbing them together to warm up the mixture. He then placed his hands back on her buttocks and rubbed the cream in, along with smearing it around her hips too.

He began sliding his palms along each cheek gently, then fanned out his fingers as he worked in circular motions once more, alternating between this and beginning with his hands at the top of her thighs and pushing upwards with the heel of his palm.

Seamlessly, he then focused his attention of her legs, sure that they were causing her pain since she'd recently made the swap from heels to flats. He slid his hands downwards from her glutes, pressing firmly with his knuckles as he did so.

He reached over to add more oil to his hands, heating it up between them before he spread it on her thighs, sliding his fingers upwards as he knew this movement was meant to alleviate cramps. Once he reached her calves, he gently held the heel of her foot in one hand (taking extra caution as he knew she was ticklish on the soles of her feet) and ran his thumb and fingers up her calf muscles whilst stretching them, earning a groan from Kate.

When he was finished with the more vigorous movements, he switched to lightly feathering his fingers over her legs until he arrived at her feet again.

He began with slowly twisting her foot back and forth to stretch it out, paying attention to the almost impossibly high arch, then ran his hands down the sides, pressing with his thumbs. Rick continued this for a while, knowing that her feet could be in pain considering she was still walking around a lot during her work hours, even if she wasn't out in the field anymore.

Once he'd finally finished his massage (which somehow managed to last over an hour), he draped the bed covers over Kate, not dressing her in her usual pyjamas in case jostling her would bring her out of the calm state she'd fallen into.

He was sure that his partner was asleep, so he simply lay next to her even though it was still relatively early in the evening and he wouldn't be sleeping for a while, he was content to look at his gorgeous wife as she lay there, her pink mouth open slightly as she breathed, her eyes fluttering occasionally as if she were dreaming.

Trying not to jostle the bed too much, Rick bent forward so that his face was next to her protruding belly, mesmerised at the fact that the baby seemed to have relaxed too, no longer kicking or moving around crazily like usual.

"Hey, little man," He whispered as quietly as he could, almost unsure if he had even spoken, "Thanks for being so good for Mommy. Could you keep being good tonight? For Daddy? Mommy needs her rest if she's going to catch bad guys and be a superhero." He explained, raising a hand in order to rub his thumb against Kate's stomach.

As he did this, he felt a gentle nudge from inside. A grin spread on his face from ear to ear.

"Thanks, bud," He said, acting as if the movement was the baby's form of a reply, "I owe you some chocolate once you get out here for being so great."

Castle leant forward to press a feather-light kiss to his wife's belly as he whispered, "Good night, son."

He shuffled upwards once more, surprised to see Kate's eyes open and tear-filled.

"Didn't mean to wake you up." He apologised, still keeping his voice low.

Kate shook her head, "Wasn't asleep." She replied, though her words seemed to slur together.

"Could've fooled me."

She smirked in response, "Just the effects of that massage."

His face lit up with pride, "So you liked it?"

"Yeah." Kate replied, bringing her hand up to rest on the side of his face that wasn't pressed against his pillow, "You're amazing, Rick. The perfect man."

For once, he was speechless. He only grasped her hand with his own as they gazed into each other's eyes, the vibrant colours of the sunset behind the blinds creating streaks of light over the bed sheets.

Kate gasped suddenly, then chuckled, "Little man's kicking. I think that means he agrees with me."

Castle laughed too, pressing his body against hers so he could feel their son communicating too.

"I love you." Kate whispered, pressing a kiss to her husband's cheek.

"Love you too." He replied instantaneously, then felt a sudden movement against his own stomach, "And I love you, little man."

* * *

 **Thank god for incognito tabs, because if someone could see all the web pages I looked at for this fic, they would definitely think I'm abandoning Uni to become a masseuse.**

 **This was a fic that I had a really good idea of in my head, but it was so hard to write, and I'm still a bit unsure on it, so feedback would be greatly appreciated!**

 **Lou xo**


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